In the Street fest draws crowds to market Street

Two adults supervising 10 children? No big deal, Lori Hayes said, standing behind a stroller at Saturday's In The Street Celebration in Frederick.

"When you have seven, another few is not a lot," said Hayes, a former Frederick resident now living in Bethesda, Md.

The "other few" were two step-children and a friend of one of her children. Hayes said she and her husband were managing well.

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Amid the mass of people absorbing the market-like feel of Market Street, Hayes and her daughter Zoey stopped to see a puppet booth set up by the Frederick County Performing Arts Co. The fuzzy lamb, bunny and frog puppets didn't impress Zoey, who will turn 2 years old next month, so Hayes wheeled her daughter back to rejoin the rest of the crew.

Block by block, the festival's many offerings drew people of all types. Some kept their eyes peeled as they passed the eclectic booths, vendors and tables. Others sat and sunned and snacked.

P. McCauley - no first name, please, she said; just "P." - from the Baltimore Burn of the National Women's Football League talked to festival goers about how demanding her sport can be.

"There are the same rules as (in) the NFL," she said. "No catfights!"

Baltimore's local rival, the D.C. Divas, "look like they eat cows for snacks," McCauley joked, adding that Baltimore won three out of four from D.C. last season and almost won the fourth.

Farther south on Market Street, members of the In Ji Yong (English translation: Humanity Wisdom Courage) Martial Arts group showed how to combat the threat of violence.

John Rickard, a member of the nonprofit group, narrated as Susan Twigg showed how to fend off an attacker pointing a pretend gun at her face and her back. She repeatedly spun, struck, kicked and disarmed the man, using different tactics each time.

Twigg, who took turns as an attacker, said it wasn't difficult landing on the pavement in front of the former Tesoro Food Market.

As far as the eye could see, candidates and their helpers were handing things out: pamphlets, stickers, balloons and even miniature plastic flying discs.

Yellow "Hecht Yes!" and blue "Mooney" signs - cheering on state senate opponents Sue Hecht and Alex X. Mooney - were the most common sights, but candidates for other local and state offices turned out to glad-hand voters, too.

Music ranging from big band to '80s rock emanated from several sound stages. The smells of many festival food staples filled the streets.

Social service agencies and nonprofit groups from Overeaters Anonymous to the Frederick County Humane Society hoped the large crowd would notice their causes, too.

Some groups used the day's theme - "In The Street" - to show exactly what they do.

The U.S. Marine Corps invited spectators to climb into their light armored vehicle.

A women's fitness troupe did synchronized fitness routines as edgy rock music played.

Young people took turns lifting a barbell over their head and dropping it to the pavement. They were publicizing the Frederick Regional Sports Commission.

Eva Rosvold, executive assistant to Frederick Mayor Jennifer Dougherty, was also at the Sports Commission's booth, helping promote a new marathon in the city on March 30, 2003.

The 26.2-mile course will wind through Frederick's downtown. Runners can take on the entire course by themselves or as part of a four-person relay team, Rosvold said.